Claims of torture in PA prisons resurface as prisoner dies in custody

The death of 28-year-old Palestinian Ahmed Abu Hamada in a Palestinian Authority jail has brought to the surface claims of torture in detention, Felesteen reported yesterday.

The PA had claimed that Abu Hamada had a heart attack however rights groups have said that many prisoners die as a result of torture in detention.

Abu Hamada was detained last year along with fellow member of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Abdullah Daraghmeh, and charged with causing security chaos.

Daraghmeh also died in detention, with the PA claiming he died of natural causes.

Member of Freedoms Committee in the West Bank, Khalil Assaf, said: “Based on complaints from people who were detained, we found that they were exposed to different forms of torture,” noting that most of them do not file complaints because they are afraid of revenge.

Assaf said that Jericho Prison is the most notorious because Palestinians are brought there for investigation.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights based in London has several times called for the PA to immediately stop the political detention and stop practicing “systematic torture and humiliation” of Palestinian inmates.

Rights groups documented cases of Palestinians tortured to death inside PA prisons, including Farid Jarbou, 28, who died in July 1994 – less than a year after the establishment of the PA.

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